Worcester property value up

WORCESTER — The total assessed value of all taxable property in the city has rebounded modestly from its slide of the previous year and is now back above $11 billion.

City Assessor William J. Ford said the city's total assessed valuation, pending final approval from the state Department of Revenue, increased by roughly $150 million, going from $10.9 billion in fiscal year 2013 to $11.026 billion for this fiscal year.

He said that represents a 1.39 percent increase in Worcester's total taxable property valuation from the previous year, but it is still well below the high water mark set in 2008 when the total valuation reached $12.7 billion.

Mr. Ford said the new valuations reflect his office's opinion of value for all individual properties as of Jan. 1, 2013, which is the legal assessment date.

The growth in overall property values was fueled by modest increases in most residential and commercial property classes, though the average valuation for single-family homes actually dropped by 0.70 percent and the average valuation for industrial properties fell by 3.22 percent.

Those decreases were offset, however, by a 2.56 percent growth in condominium values, a 2.3 percent growth in two-family homes, and a 0.37 percent growth in three-family homes.

The biggest increase in residential property values were seen in apartment buildings, where the average valuation jumped up by 11.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the average valuation of commercial property in the city increased by 3.79 percent.

In the previous fiscal year, Worcester's total valuation tumbled by nearly $400 million, from $11.3 billion to $10.9 billion.

With the uptick in the city's total valuation, the city's combined single tax rate has increased more than 70 cents, from $22.03 per $1,000 valuation to $22.75, according to Mr. Ford.

He said that is a net increase of 3.22 percent in the combined single tax rate. But the city has not had a single tax rate in 30 years.

Since 1984, the City Council has set separate tax rates for residential and commercial-industrial properties, using tax classification to shift more of the tax burden from residential to business property owners. The combined single rate is what the city's tax rate would be without tax classification.

The City Council is scheduled to hold its annual tax classification hearing at 7 p.m. Dec. 10. Upon completion of the public hearing, the council will then set the city's tax rates for residential and commercial-industrial properties for this fiscal year.

Under tax classification, the council can set a residential rate as low as $17.25 per $1,000 in valuation; that would translate into a commercial-industrial tax rate of $36.61.

But while the council has adopted the lowest possible residential tax rate in the past it is not expected to do so this year. Instead, it is expected to take another step that began last year in narrowing the gap between the residential and commercial-industrial tax rates.

The tax rates for the previous fiscal year were $18.58 for residential property and $30.85 for business properties.

According to city assessors, Worcester's tax base is now made up of roughly 50,000 pieces of taxable property. Residential properties account for 71.65 percent of the city's overall tax base, while commercial-industrial properties, including personal property, accounts for 28.35 percent.

That is pretty much in line with the breakdown from the previous fiscal year.

The average assessed value of single-family homes now stands at $186,442, compared to $187,961 the previous year. Just two years ago the average assessment for a single-family home was $198,061.